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Overview

Helsinki, 1952

This tournament saw the birth of one of the greatest football
teams: Hungary, who were soon to become known as the Magic Magyars,
led by the fabulous Galloping Major, Ferenc Puskas. And magic did
the Hungarians perform, rolling to five consecutive wins, scoring
20 goals and allowing just two.

The 2-0 gold-medal game win over Yugoslavia might have been
anti-climatic, considering the events leading up to the final.

Outsiders Luxembourg, who had never known much success in
international football, eliminated Great Britain in the opening
round, 5-3, and Egypt stunned Chile, 5-4.

In fact, Yugoslavia almost did not make it to the championship
match in a second-round confrontation that turned into one of the
most memorable games ever of the Olympic Football Tournament.
Yugoslavia led the Soviet Union, 5-1, at one juncture in their
match in Tampere before the Soviets rallied from a 5-2 deficit with
14 minutes left to force an amazing 5-5 tie. Bobrov led the
comeback with three goals and Petrov headed home the equalizer with
a minute remaining in normal time. Two days later, Yugoslavia won
the rematch, 3-1, as Rajko Mitic, who finished one behind teammate
Branko Zebec for the scoring title, Stjepan Bobek and Zlatko
Cajkovski tallied.

But it was Hungary's tournament. After barely getting past
Romania in the first round, 2-1, the Hungarians moved into high
gear. They blanked Italy in the second round, 3-0, rolled over
Turkey in the quarter-finals, 7-1 (Kocsis and Puskas had two goals
apiece), and shut down Sweden in the semi-finals, 6-0 (two more
goals for Kocsis).

Ferenc Puskas and Zoltan Czibor both scored as Hungary produced
a 2-0 final win as nearly 60,000 spectators were entertained by one
of the greatest football teams in history.

This Hungarian side was virtually the same as that which was to
stun England at Wembley, 6-3 in 1953, and the same team that would
enter the 1954 World Cup as the favourites before succumbing to
West Germany in the final, 3-2. Sweden, without its brilliant
attacking trio that had produced a gold medal in 1948, settled for
a bronze medal this time, with a 2-0 win over Germany
FR.